Bored with football yet?
No, of course you're not, because we are British, by jings, and we can't get enough of the beautiful game etc etc etc. Still, just in case, here are the picks of tonight's TV, taken from this week's Guide, involving prom dresses, bloody Anglo-Scottish skirmishes and Howard Hodgkin...
But not Howard Hodgkin, wielding a huge blood-caked sword IN a prom dress. That's tomorrow night, I think.
China 9pm, BBC2 When considering the direction of the world over the next few decades, a useful - if faintly terrifying - exercise is to consider the list of Chinese cities larger than five million people, and reflect on how few of them you know a single thing about. This is the beginning of what looks an unmissable series on the mysterious leviathan, and what its burgeoning prosperity and confidence may mean for its 1.3 billion people, and for the rest of us. Serious, painstakingly researched, unfashionably willing to credit its audience with intelligence, and boasting extraordinary access, this is old school BBC documentary-making, and is marvellous.
Andrew Mueller
Imagine: Howard Hodgkin 10.45pm, BBC1 For this rare interview with one of Britain's stateliest painters, Alan Yentob takes Hodgkin, now 73, to India, where, at licence payers' cheerful expense, they make a grand tour of the architectural remains of the Moghul Empire. On the eve of a major retrospective of Hodgkin's work at Tate Britain, Yentob attempts to tease out the appeal of this enigmatic artist, whose near-abstract work has proven of particular appeal to writers such as Seamus Heaney and Julian Barnes, both of whom provide contributions.
David Stubbs
The Battle That Made Britain 9pm, BBC4 Documentary on the causes, course and ramifications of the Battle of Culloden, the 1746 punch-up at which the Highland army was spanked by England, thus preserving the fledgling Union. The content is terrific - a well-chosen cast of lucid, witty boffins telling the story of Charles Stuart's arrival from exile and quixotic raising of a Jacobite revolt north of the border. The style, however, is patronising in the extreme, illustrating 18th century Anglo-Scottish tensions with footage of modern rugby matches and football hooligans. Watch it with your eyes shut, and pretend it's a great radio programme. AM
The OC 9pm, E4 Only one week left after this OC fans... It's time for the senior prom tonight, one of those American rituals that's seeped into British consciousness thanks to featuring in nearly every teen drama since Pretty In Pink. Super-perky sidekick Taylor is in her sugar-high element, bouncing off the walls with excitement. Marissa and Summer are less amused. But who's going to be Prom Queen?
Richard Vine
Dogtown And Z-Boys (Stacy Peralta, 2001) 9pm, More4 If you're mildly interested in youth culture, this documentary on the early days of skateboarding fills a historical gap. And if you've ever described yourself as a skater, this is your history dude! Narrated by Sean Penn, it shows how a group of 1970s Californians turned skating from an offshoot of surfing into something totally way cool -- thanks to a rebellious attitude and some dried-up swimming pools. There's archive footage, kickass music and plenty of personal testimony - possibly too much, as it gets a little self-indulgent, but it's a story that deserves to be told (which may be why it was turned into a feature last year, Lords Of Dogtown).
Steve Rose
